By Center on Policy Initiatives / May 7, 2012
Press conference planned for Wednesday to urge City Council action.
San Diego residents whose neighborhoods are blighted with foreclosed houses will join Councilmember David Alvarez in a press conference Wednesday urging action against banks that cause the problem.
The Center on Policy Initiatives will release new poll results from the public opinion research firm Grove Insight showing widespread support among city voters for an ordinance fining banks that failed to maintain the properties they own.
Make Banks Clean up Their Mess press conference
1:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 9
Civic Center Plaza, 202 C St., San Diego 92101
After the press conference, the community members will testify at 2 p.m. before the City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee. The proposed Property Value Protection Ordinance Is not on the agenda for the committee’s May meeting.
The proposed ordinance would require banks to register all properties they foreclose and pay a small fee to maintain the registry, and would fine banks $1,000 a day when they fail to keep a property up to code. It was proposed by CPI and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and introduced by Alvarez six months ago.
Blighted foreclosures drag down property values of nearby homes and cost local governments for inspections, upkeep, police and fire calls and other services. A report last year by CPI and ACCE determined foreclosures since 2008 have caused a combined home value loss of $19 billion for homeowners in the City of San Diego and cost taxpayers between $134 million and $855 million.
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